Alissa skated quite well and deserved to win the Bronze medal. Unfortunately her reputation/momentum/bribery scores (PCS) were not up to snuff and she did not receive the credit she deserved over the rest of the field for her spins. She still managed a respectable 5th place finish, though.

Rachael skated one of the worst competitions of her entire life. It was very disheartening to see because several jumping passes into her program it became quite apparent she had an injury. I almost teared up and I'm not a big fan of hers. Really sad. I wish her the best in college.

I fully expected to see at least one or two of the US ladies in the top flight. As the coverage for skating this season was very spotty at best, I never saw any US ladies skate. How did they do?

considering our team for the last two or three years has consisted mainly of teeny boppers still trying to find their way and older skaters who have no consistency it's not surprising that they were all but ignored by non USA networks... kinda like Canadian ladies in the US... though for the SP we did get to see Phaneuf.

Alissa had her best skate ever at Worlds and kept her composure completely together aside from the fall. She was up for a medal but for two skaters who skated better than her in this competition. I have no problems with the results and I'm proud of Alissa.

Pretty pathetic that even the mediocre Russian women have 3 spots for next years Worlds. I mean are you telling me Leonova and Makarova are both better then what we have in the US right now?

The Russians have the deepest overall poll of women in the World right now, other than maybe the Japanese.

The U.S results didnt surprise me. I expected Czisny to be somewhere from 4th to 7th and Flatt to be somewhere from 9th to 12th. I always said 3 spots were unlikely and I was right.

Sending Flatt to Worlds was a stupid move on the U.S's part and I said that all along. I bet the geniuses who crowed that I was wrong on my prediction of Flatt not making it to Worlds are just as thrilled now. She didnt skate that much better than Nagasu at Nationals, if at all, yet Flatt was even inflated in the marks and given a bigger margin over Nagasu then deserved. Furthermore the marks suggest she would have beaten Czisny had she skated cleanly which is ridiculous. It is time for the U.S skating federation to start considering the potential and international prospects of skaters. And that is clearly not Flatt at this point. Also the fact Flatt more than any other U.S skater has been consistently overscored at Nationals the last 4 years (minus possibly 2009) is a reflection she is the pet of the USFSA. Why on earth a skater of such limited potential would be the USFSA pet is beyond me. Other than possibly her consistency, but now that she has lost that there is absolutely no reason for the USFSA to protect her status in the future. Unless she skates lights out and nobody else skates very well, she should not be near a World team again.

And yes I know Flatt was injured. The fact she chose to skate knowing she was injured when there was a quality replacement like Nagasu who was really getting it together going into Worlds based on her 4CC's performances and reports of her training was pety and foolish of her. It is one thing to try to be a hero when your country clearly needs you for any chance of spots, as there is nobody who can skate anywhere near up to your level, but this is clearly not the case here. And that decision along with her poor showing at Worlds will be the last straw when it comes to her past support from the USFSA.

...Also the fact Flatt more than any other U.S skater has been consistently overscored at Nationals the last 4 years (minus possibly 2009) is a reflection she is the pet of the USFSA. Why on earth a skater of such limited potential would be the USFSA pet is beyond me.

More generally, I do not understand why a national federation would have a "pet" at all, ever. What could the USFSA possibly gain by inflating one skater's score over another's, by fixing the results of nationals, by "wanting" one skater to win a berth on the world team rather than another, etc.?

More generally, I do not understand why a national federation would have a "pet" at all, ever. What could the USFSA possibly gain by inflating one skater's score over another's, by fixing the results of nationals, by "wanting" one skater to win a berth on the world team rather than another, etc.?

You really believe that US Skating is non-political
Let's see if Flatt gets Skate America for the fourth straight year. I wouldn't be surprised if she requested it since it will be less disruptive to her studies.

I certainly hope we see Alissa or Mirai at SA this season with either Agnes and/or Christina.